In The Portrait of a Lady (1881), spirited young Isabel Archer travels from her home in Albany, New York, eager to discover what life has to offer in Europe. Determined to shape her own destiny, she rejects two eligible suitors one American and one English in her pursuit of freedom. Isabel s independence at first seems assured by a surprise legacy from her uncle but, ironically, her wealth only serves to attract the scheming Madame Merle and the cruelly possessive Gilbert Osmond. The revelations that follow Isabel's marriage to Osmond are devastating and she is forced to confront the conflict between society s demand for propriety and her own fierce sense of independence.